If you wanted more details on the road, you’ve come to the right place

We, the residents of Mitzpe Nevo and Lower Klei Shir are concerned about the construction of a new access road leading from our neighborhoods to the “07” exit.

We love this city and want to see it grow. However, a road that will destroy one neighborhood and leave the residents of another exposed to public safety hazards is not the answer.

More specifically, we have the following concerns:

1. Increased Traffic. The new access road will attract drivers from the surrounding neighborhoods of Klei Shir, HaMitzadim and HaNechalim. Those residents will avoid overcrowded school pick-up zones, well-attended events at the Matnas, country club, cultural center and mall, and a number of other bottlenecks in the city center area and exit instead through the new Mitzpe Nevo “exit”. These residents will join the drivers from the 3,500 new units coming online and multiply daily traffic on HaGitit and Mitzpe Nevo three-fold to four-fold, in our estimation.

   • More accidents and slower drive times as result of increased traffic. The streets of HaGitit and Mitzpe Nevo are not built to be exit roads that service multiple neighborhoods. The roadway is a single lane in each direction, and at many locations it is too narrow for even two regular-sized passenger cars to pass simultaneously, let alone two buses. Moreover, bends in the road require drivers to slow down at various junctions. As currently constructed, driving up and down this road is dangerous, creating extremely hazardous conditions even for the most careful of drivers. An increased traffic load without widening existing road infrastructure will exacerbate current conditions. Instead of trying to improve infrastructure and/or remove illegal buildings along the roadway, the city has simply told us “all will be good” without production of a single viable traffic study to back up such claims despite our repeated requests to provide the same. Poor traffic design is being compounded by even worse traffic design, without any studies conducted to measure impact. 

   • Increased Danger to Pedestrians. There are various bends and poor visibility turns throughout this meandering road on HaGitit. As constructed, there are not wide-enough sidewalks or sufficient pedestrian crossings to allow for safe pedestrian access. Children abound in these neighborhoods. Instead of fixing these issues by widening sidewalks and increasing crossings, the city has proposed a plan that does not address pedestrian safety.  By omitting this crucial item, the city’s plan presents as reckless, feckless, and ultimately, dangerous for all of the residents, children and adults alike. Bad pedestrian planning is being “fixed” by a plan that does not address pedestrian concerns.

   2. Air and Noise Pollution.  Increased traffic and closer proximity of roads lead to increased air pollution and noise. There will be a large roadway adjacent to, or within fifty feet of, hundreds (if not, thousands) of residents if this plan comes to fruition. Governmental agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in America, have linked excessive roadway traffic/proximity to higher rates of asthma onset and aggravation, cardiovascular disease, impaired lung development in children, pre-term and low-birthweight infants, childhood leukemia, and premature death (420f14044_0.pdf). Affected residents would have to contend with increased levels of hundreds of pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and benzene. Id. The EPA has stated a safe distance for major roadways as 500-600 feet from residents. Id.  This road fails that test.  Considering that the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report stated that air pollution remains the “greatest external threat to public health” (See Worse than smoking: Air pollution is greatest global threat to human health | The Times of Israel), has the city taken pollution seriously in its design process?  Has the city conducted any study to determine the health effects of this road due to increased air contaminants? Have dense forests and large noise/pollution walls been planned along the entirety of the route to mitigate adverse impacts? Instead of trying to plan a major exit road as far away from residents as possible, the city intends to ram through this neighborhood a road that increases risk of maladies and decreases residents’ health. In its rush to build, the city has simply ignored long-term health planning.

2. Havoc in our neighborhood’s only Commercial Center. The entrance to the new road will be placed opposite Mitzpe Nevo’s only commercial shops– its makolet (grocery store) and pizza restaurant. As currently designed, parking in this small commercial center is nearly always problematic as shoppers compete with residents and patrons of two neighborhood ganim (preschools) for limited parking spots. Adding exiting vehicles on the same road as drivers meandering for a parking spot will degrade Mitzpe Nevo’s only commercial center and increase danger and inconvenience for drivers and pedestrians alike. Drivers going towards the city center, drivers heading to the Mitzpe Nevo “exit”, drivers looking to park and pedestrians holding heavy shopping bags will all be sharing one small area. We envision long back-ups, dangerous conditions and general havoc in our only commercial center. No thought has been given to parking and other upgrades to this area that would allow for synergies and co-existence. Bad commercial district planning is being “fixed” with even worse commercial district planning.

3. City Center travel will take longer; commute times to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will not decrease.  To get to the city center, Mitzpe Nevo and Klei Shir residents will have to battle increased traffic, making it harder for residents to get out of the neighborhood and travel to the mall, Terem (urgent care), and other locations.  Moreover, commutes to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will not improve with the new road.  The new “exit” road is not actually an exit. The new road will connect to an existing exit on the other side of the city (which is further from Jerusalem than the currently-utilized exit). From there, drivers will merge with traffic coming out of “07” to reach Highway One for travel onwards to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Given that “07” is by far the largest neighborhood in the city, with imminent plans for 3,500 additional homes, and the fact that there is no direct connection to Highway One, residents of Mitzpe Nevo and Klei Shir seem to be trading one intolerable commute for another. Instead of planning sensible routes that would actually ameliorate driving distances, the city has proposed a plan that would do little to shorten residents’ travel times.

4. Dangerous Conditions on Shabbat. Many of the residents of Mitzpe Nevo are Shomer Shabbat. Generally speaking, in the area where this road would exit, one could find children playing in the street and adults taking walks throughout the day. Construction of this road will force those activities to the sidewalks. The city has stated they will post signs to tell drivers to avoid the road’s use on Shabbat.  However, absent physical barriers, cars will be able to travel freely through this “exit”.  A driver in a rush to go somewhere will ignore posted signs.  Any child who tries to play freely in the street (and children being children, this will invariably happen), puts their life at risk. This road was not planned with the current character of the neighborhood in mind. Instead of helping residents, this plan would add a new element of danger every Shabbat. The city, in its push to erect more units, is creating new dangerous conditions for existing residents.

Where does this leave us, the residents of Mitzpe Nevo and Klei Shir?

We understand the city is growing and needs to build more units and infrastructure. Such development should be done in a way that does not increase danger and health effects to current residents. Even the head engineer of this plan described it as “the least bad of all bad plans” (״הכי פחות גרוע שיש״). 

If this was to be only a minor inconvenience we wouldn’t have spoken up, but we’re very concerned this will create intolerable conditions for all residents of Mitzpe Nevo and Lower Klei Shir.

Many of us have objected to these plans in order to allow the city more time to find more sensible solutions to prevail. We call on you, reading this website, to join the growing chorus. We ask the city and the mayor to find another solution that leaves our neighborhood intact. Alternatives do exist, but the city has found any number of reasons to disqualify them. It is high time to force the city to build roadways that are correctly planned and that do not create life, safety and traffic problems for its residents.